Posts tagged with New Media

Last week Sally Whittle wrote about the ‘top 5 amazing PR offers’ sitting in her inbox at the time, taking a comical dig at some bad examples of blogger engagement in the process.

Her advice is valid, and I suggest taking a read, but it’s a shame that it’s usually the poor examples of blogger relations that often inspire such pieces.

It’s really not rocket science. Do your research, read the blog, offer the blogger something that’s interesting or more importantly, relevant - and try not to buy them off in the process. The ‘treating bloggers like people’ stuff also applies, but that’s largely just common decency that should be applied to any communications - so doesn’t classify as a rule of blogger engagement for me.

As such, I’ve put together a selection of examples of great collaborations below.

Stats should, as always, be taken with a pinch of salt – since the real benefit of this kind of activity is usually longer term. But in some cases, there are some figures to back up particular campaigns.

According to Reuters' Felix Salmon, the Time Warner-owned cable news network could announce as early as Tuesday that it is acquiring Mashable, one of the most popular tech/social media blogs for a figure that could be north of $200m.

Newspapers? Dying? Television? Might as well die too. New media? That's where future empires will be built.

At least that's what some have been claiming since blogging and 'new media' became a mainstream phenomenon. And to be sure, new media's future does look bright. But is it as bright as many had predicted? Perhaps not.

The actions of internet entrepreneur Jason Calacanis, no stranger to
controversy, have sparked a debate about media credibility after his
off-the-wall tweets about the Apple tablet were picked up by prominent
online and offline media outlets.

Prior to the launch of the iPad, Calacanis tweeted that he had been "beta testing" the "Apple tablet"
for two weeks and spilled the beans on his experience and the specs.
From old media stalwarts like CNN and the Wall Street Journal to new
media mavens like TechCrunch and Silicon Alley Insider, 'reporters' were quick to relay Calacanis' claims to their audiences.

It's a subject that turns the stomachs of most journalists. After all in journalism, "marketing" and "branding" are dirty words. But given the media fall out as a backdrop for the global recession, it's time that newspapers, and the journalists who write for them, realise that the masthead of their paper is a brand.

Knowing what people think and feel when they see your newspaper's brand is more important than ever.

On August 3, Halpern set up an account, @shitmydadsays. The purpose: share some of his 73 year-old dad's wisdom with the world. You see, Halpern had just moved back in with the folks and figured that some of the things his dad told him might be worth rebroadcasting on Twitter. Turns out he was right: @shitmydadsays now has over 700,000 followers.

Facebook's growth, it seems, is limited only by the scope of Mark Zuckerberg's ambition. It began as a social networking site trying to keep up with MySpace, but Facebook is now circling its own orbit.

All that's stopping Facebook from becoming the pre-eminent news publisher for its 300m users is Zuckerberg's desire to do it.

I know a number of journalists who are growing increasingly concerned about the sustainability of their careers. Those working for offline publications tend to worry more than most, and with good reason, given the tide of bad news in this space.

But despite the problems with business models, there will always be a need for journalists. It isn’t game over for journalism, not by a stretch, it's just that the game is changing. Old media journalists will need to learn some new skills and adapt mindsets to accommodate changes in their industry.

In March it was announced that The Ann Arbor News, located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, would be closing. The paper had been publishing since 1835. Sad as it was, it wasn't an unusual considering the state of newspapers nationwide. What made it unique was what happened next.

The newspaper was closing, but in its place, AnnArbor.com would launch as a mostly online-only, hyperlocal news portal. As the industry remains in flux and more news executives are turning to the web, AnnArbor.com is being seen as a case study in online local news. Ed Vielmetti is AnnArbor.com's blogging leader.